SC judge who gave Yakub verdict gets death threat

New Delhi, August 7

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A death threat has been made against Justice Dipak Misra, one of the three Supreme Court judges who turned down the final plea against hanging of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, following which his security has been stepped up.

The Delhi police have registered a case after a threat letter was found near the back entrance of the judge’s house at Tughlak Road on Wednesday. They said the threat to Misra is of a “very serious nature” and have so far ruled out that someone may have played a prank by sending the anonymous letter.

Justice Misra’s personal security officers were doing a security check, when they found the letter. Senior police officers were immediately informed. Special Commissioner (Law) Deepak Mishra visited his residence and did a security audit, the police said. It is believed that those behind threat letter did a recce of Misra’s residence. “Suspects knew that security personnel are posted outside Justice Misra’s residence and CCTV cameras are installed outside his office. They knew that back entrance of Misra’s residence has thick cover of trees and CCTVs can’t capture someone throwing the letter in the compound,” a senior officer said. Apart from the Delhi police, personnel from central paramilitary force have been posted at his residence.

“We have increased the security cover of Misra’s residence. Also anti-terror security drill has been carried out in entire New Delhi area,” the officer said. The police said soon after Memon’s hanging in the wee hours of July 30, security for Justice Misra and his two colleagues was increased.

The three judges rejected Memon’s eleventh hour appeal to stop his hanging in an unprecedented hearing that took place in the apex court in the middle of the night. Memon was convicted in 2007 as the driving spirit of the deadly attack in Mumbai in 1993 in which 257 people were killed as bombs exploded back to back at landmarks across the financial capital. 

Yeda Yakub dies in Pak

Mumbai: A key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, Yakub Khan alias Yeda Yakub, is believed to have died after suffering a major heart attack in Karachi. 

“On Wednesday, the police got the information about Yeda Yakub’s death through informers,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said on Friday. Yeda Yakub and his brother Majid Khan had transported RDX from Raigad to Mumbai for the serial blasts in 1993. — Agencies